When assembly, machining, manufacturing, and/or transporting large structures, it is often necessary to ensure that the contours of the structure are consistent with a desired structure design and/or associated tolerances. In the case of assembling two or more large structures together to form a product, the importance of precisely forming the respective structures is important for efficient manufacturing as well as quality control. Assembling, machining, manufacturing, and/or transporting large structures that meet desired design characteristics may be difficult due to internal and external factors. For example, structure contour deviations may be realized due to certain aspects of the desired design, the materials used, the manufacturing processes used, the machinery used, and/or other factors. Additionally, a well-formed or assembled structure may be subject to internal and/or external forces that cause changes in the structure dimensions. Internally, a structure may include stresses induced during manufacturing that alter the shape of the structure, even after manufacturing of the structure is completed. Externally, the structure may be subjected to minor or even significant changes induced by movement, shifts in the earth, transportation forces, damage, other, or other forces.
The above considerations are compounded by modern manufacturing processes, wherein a structure may be initially formed at one facility, and may then pass to or through a number of other facilities. In some cases, the structure must be transported large distances, even between multiple continents, between the time the first manufacturing process is performed on the structure and the time at which the structure is a part of, or is itself, a finished product. The transportation of the structure often introduces new forces to the structure, possibly resulting in deformation of the structure. Furthermore, even if deformation is not induced by the multiple possible transportations, a first manufacturing facility may be aware of certain structure characteristics of which a second manufacturing facility is unaware. Thus, a second facility may undertake steps to collect data already collected at a first facility.